Planetary carrier and method for manufacturing the same

Abstract

A planetary carrier includes a plurality of pinion gears, a plurality of pinion shafts that are each inserted in the corresponding pinion gear, a first supporting plate that supports one end of each of the pinion shafts, a second supporting plate that supports the other end of each of the pinion shafts, and a plurality of bridge plates, one end of each of which is joined to the first supporting plate via a welding portion and the other end of each of which is joined to the second supporting plate via a welding portion and which connects the first and second supporting plates.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT / JP2018 / 032846 filed Sep. 5, 2018, claiming priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-170616 filed Sep. 5, 2017.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The disclosure relates to a planetary carrier and a method for manufacturing the same, the planetary carrier including a plurality of pinion gears and a plurality of pinion shafts that are each inserted in the corresponding pinion gear.BACKGROUND ART[0003]Conventionally, a planetary carrier that includes a carrier plate and a carrier base that are formed by press working a plate material having a prescribed thickness is known as this type of planetary carrier (for example, see Patent Document 1). The carrier plate of the planetary carrier has an annular base portion and a plurality of leg portions that are bent from an outer peripheral surface of the base portion toward the carrier base. The carrier base has a plurality of ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text describes a planetary carrier that can have a complicated planar shape, leading to wasted material and deteriorated material yield. The base material needed to create a prescribed number of carrier plates is large, and the size of the carrier base cannot be efficiently reduced. The technical effect of this patent is to provide a planetary carrier that can be manufactured without welding and ensure the strength of the carrier while reducing the manufacturing cost. The strength is achieved by integrating the first and second supporting plates with the bridge plates through welding, simplifying the planar shape of the plates and reducing the size of the base materials, and improving material yield. The decrease in material cost is significant and is achieved by reducing the number of spots to weld and improving material yield, but the increased working cost resulting from the increase in the number of weld spots needs to be considered. Overall, the patent demonstrates how to manufacture a strong planetary carrier with reduced material cost.

Problems solved by technology

The amount of end materials that are wasted is increased and thus, material yield is deteriorated.

Similarly, for the carrier base having an annular planar shape, the increase in the size of the base material and the deterioration of material yield are not easily suppressed.

Thus, with the planetary carrier according to Patent Document 1, it is difficult to further reduce the material cost.

Although the planetary carrier according to Patent Document 2 can be manufactured without using welding, it is difficult to sufficiently ensure the strength of the planetary carrier just by fixing the stud pins to the pair of carrier members by clinching.

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